Calling Them Out: Elections are where Buena Vista voters make change; recalls are a disruptive 'do-over'

Voter remorse is again settling across Buena Vista Township, as petitions for the recall of four township Board of Education members were filed this month with the Saginaw County Board of Elections.

Granted, Buena Vista Township has had its problems recently — both on the school board and at Township Hall. But recall elections aren’t the way to solve them.

If voters aren’t happy with the people they elected, there’s a time and a place for boosting them from office in favor of replacements, and that’s during regularly scheduled elections.

Voters who want responsible leaders in elected office need to make their choices carefully before they cast their ballots.

Although state law allows recall elections, hitting the “re-set” button too easily stirs the pot of discontent.

In Buena Vista, the recall against four of the seven school board members already may have been a factor in the resignation last week of Trustee Rosie S. Jackson. She said in a letter faxed to the district’s administrative office that she was leaving her post to spend more time with her family.

Now, the board must appoint someone — an unelected representative — to replace her. Surely, an appointment isn’t better than an election.

To be sure, there might be more appointments in that board’s future. Both Vice President Alvin Jernigan Jr. and Trustee Leonard N. Williams face felony election fraud charges.

Both are named in the recall petitions that claim they were involved in unethical practices that contradict board policies, and laws.

Jackson was named for recall on a claim she was excessively absent.

Treasurer Patricia Butler is accused in the petitions of an inability to, among other things, “make informed decisions.”

Did voters make a mistake when they elected these people to public office?

There’s a solution, every four years for members of this school board, and that’s regularly scheduled elections.

When there’s voter remorse, elections — with public debates and all the policy discussion they should involve — are the built-in mechanisms for change.